Why the Kanter hate??

[Kudi]

Why all the Enes Kanter hate
His numbers ever since he joined OKC have been fairly respectable in just 20 mins a game:
ppg-14.12/ rpg-6.6, Per36 thats 24/11. Shoots solid from the floor and free throw line one of the best for a true bigman

I understand that his defense is not the greatest but his offensive output seems to be greater and even in just net rating:
ORTG 119.8 and DRTG 106 its not elite but it doesnt seem to be quite as bad as it is made out to me
PLus he is just 24 years old!

Was just wondering this while watching the game today once Adams went down
However i do not watch enough of him so just wanted to get some other peoples opinion
cheers

[pr0wler]

Worst defensive big man in NBA history. Awful at defending the PnR which has become the standard go-to in today's game.

Other than that, yes he is definitely a gangster I agree. Great rebounder, strong as an ox, and borderline elite scorer. With even some semblance of defense he would be a fringe all-star level player for sure.

Regardless of his current deficits, would like to see him on the court more often because he provides so much offensively and on the boards as well.

[PeptoKlepto]

You mustache this question, huh?

[lars_rosenberg]

Worst defensive big man in NBA history. Awful at defending the PnR which has become the standard go-to in today's game.

Second worst! Bargnani deserves this title!

[bondom34]

Worst defensive big man in NBA history. Awful at defending the PnR which has become the standard go-to in today's game.

Second worst! Bargnani deserves this title!

He's actually much improved defensively.

Still awful. But not historically awful, legit a 6MOY candidate but if he has to start for a stretch OKC is screwed. I don't know if there's hate for the guy other than Jazz fans, which I totally get. Good but flawed player, like most bench guys are.

[jazzfan1971]

Find a highly paid center than only plays post offense and doesn't defend that isn't hated.

If you aren't shooting 3s or protecting the rim in today's nba as a center we don't have much use for you. And Kanter is about the embodiment of that description.

[ThomYorke]

He's actually much improved defensively.

Still awful. But not historically awful, legit a 6MOY candidate but if he has to start for a stretch OKC is screwed. I don't know if there's hate for the guy other than Jazz fans, which I totally get. Good but flawed player, like most bench guys are.

Surely you can't feel comfortable paying a max (or near max) contract to a guy who you can't play on the floor against the best teams in the league due to his poor defense

[bondom34]

He's actually much improved defensively.

Still awful. But not historically awful, legit a 6MOY candidate but if he has to start for a stretch OKC is screwed. I don't know if there's hate for the guy other than Jazz fans, which I totally get. Good but flawed player, like most bench guys are.

Surely you can't feel comfortable paying a max (or near max) contract to a guy who you can't play on the floor against the best teams in the league due to his poor defense

He was the main reason they beat the Spurs last year.

And w/ the new cap he's not close to max.

[JazzUte88]

He fits the bench role perfectly where he doesn't have to defend starters as much.

[yitur]

My hate for him is more political than his game. His game is pretty underrated when you think he is a better Okafor right now.

[batmana]

I am a big Kanter guy (probably because I have a soft spot for scoring centers since I grew up with 1990s basketball) and I think he deserves more playing time but on the other hand is in a unique situation in OKC where he gets enough touches in limited minutes and is super effective. IMO he is currently the frontrunner for 6th Man of the Year after the Lakers limited Lou Williams. His defense is obviously not world-beating but still not worst of all time by any means.

OTOH, he left Utah on some ugly terms since he didn't like how he lost his playing time, or how he was asked to shoot 3s for a season, and also (this is my belief, not something I read anywhere) because he felt he could play with Favors but the Jazz opted to go in a different direction.

BTW, Jahlil Okafor is another guy who could have a Kanter-like impact but that situation in Philly is beyond ridiculous at this moment. I just hope he gets traded as soon as possible (even though Philly will get pennies on the dollar right now for a big they are not even playing).

[Cappy_Smurf]

OTOH, he left Utah on some ugly terms since he didn't like how he lost his playing time, or how he was asked to shoot 3s for a season, and also (this is my belief, not something I read anywhere) because he felt he could play with Favors but the Jazz opted to go in a different direction.

Utah didn't opt to go in a different direction. Kanter was starting over Gobert, regardless of the fact that the team was MUCH better playing with Rudy, when he demanded a trade. All of the excuses he used were pretty lame, such as not being happy with his minutes a year or two earlier. IMO, the real reason he wanted out was because it was clear that Rudy would take the starting spot from him, and also I don't think he appreciated the fact he could tell his teammates would rather play with Rudy.

Not sure how many minutes he plays now, but I think it's pretty similar to what he was getting in Utah as a starter. Anyway, he's kind of a dumb player as well as sucking defensively. When his team was fighting to get into the playoffs, he totally lit a fire under a short-handed Jazz squad and gave them enough motivation to beat the thunder by acting like a douche. Thunder missed the playoffs by one game if I remember.

Also, after Utah traded him for scraps, they went on to have one of the biggest turn arounds in league history. Replacing him with Rudy as the starter was like night and day. One of the worst teams in the league the first half of the season and one of the best in the 2nd half. If ever there was truly addition by subtraction, that was it.

[Hardaway2step]

It's the 'Stache ! He reminds me of the po-po

[batmana]

OTOH, he left Utah on some ugly terms since he didn't like how he lost his playing time, or how he was asked to shoot 3s for a season, and also (this is my belief, not something I read anywhere) because he felt he could play with Favors but the Jazz opted to go in a different direction.

Utah didn't opt to go in a different direction. Kanter was starting over Gobert, regardless of the fact that the team was MUCH better playing with Rudy, when he demanded a trade. All of the excuses he used were pretty lame, such as not being happy with his minutes a year or two earlier. IMO, the real reason he wanted out was because it was clear that Rudy would take the starting spot from him, and also I don't think he appreciated the fact he could tell his teammates would rather play with Rudy.

Not sure how many minutes he plays now, but I think it's pretty similar to what he was getting in Utah as a starter. Anyway, he's kind of a dumb player as well as sucking defensively. When his team was fighting to get into the playoffs, he totally lit a fire under a short-handed Jazz squad and gave them enough motivation to beat the thunder by acting like a douche. Thunder missed the playoffs by one game if I remember.

Also, after Utah traded him for scraps, they went on to have one of the biggest turn arounds in league history. Replacing him with Rudy as the starter was like night and day. One of the worst teams in the league the first half of the season and one of the best in the 2nd half. If ever there was truly addition by subtraction, that was it.

I absolutely agree that Utah were better with Gobert and that Gobert is a better player already but as far as I remember Kanter was asked to shoot 3s and then slowly replaced by a smaller player (Marvin Williams?) way before Gobert was a factor for Utah. Still, I agree that he didn't handle the Utah situation well and has been even worse afterwards in his actions and words towards Utah.

I don't know where you get the idea that he's a "dumb" player from but he is a very skilled scorer and a strong rebounder. His defensive shortcomings are multi-layered as he's not a shot-blocker, he isn't comfortable guarding his men out to the perimeter which is extremely important in today's game and he can't stay in front of guards on a switch; his post defense could improve in the right environment, he is strong and athletic enough to be able to play better defense than he currently is; for many players, this happens under the right head coach (even though I don't wanna give him a pass for not improving on his own). Overall, I would refer to a different type of players as dumb (Dwight or JaVale for instance) but I don't think Kanter has a poor basketball IQ or a poor feel for the game.

[Cappy_Smurf]

I don't know where you get the idea that he's a "dumb" player from.

Like I explained, his team basically missed the playoffs because of his actions of talking **** and then acting like a fool when he was being introduced before the game. Utah was short handed and OKC almost certainly wins that game if Kanter hadn't tried to antagonize the jazz. Also, this year I think I remember him talking **** about KD before a game with GS and once again poured fuel on a fire he didn't need to. Might not make any difference this time around, but you never know if they might have been able to beat GS and if one game might be the difference at the end of the season in having a favorable matchup or something.

His defensive shortcomings are multi-layered as he's not a shot-blocker, he isn't comfortable guarding his men out to the perimeter which is extremely important in today's game and he can't stay in front of guards on a switch; his post defense could improve in the right environment, he is strong and athletic enough to be able to play better defense than he currently is; for many players, this happens under the right head coach (even though I don't wanna give him a pass for not improving on his own). Overall, I would refer to a different type of players as dumb (Dwight or JaVale for instance) but I don't think Kanter has a poor basketball IQ or a poor feel for the game.

As for his BBIQ, it absolutely has a lot to do with why he is such a bad defensive player. He has always been a pretty good man to man defender, but he just isn't smart enough to figure out how to defend PnR because he is easy to confuse and takes too long to figure out switches. His brain just doesn't process information fast enough.

As for his defense being able to improve in the right environment, no offense, but
Us Jazz fans said the same thing for 4 years and then OKC fans also told us the same thing when they traded for him. Unless you figure out a way to make his brain process information a lot quicker, Kanter is who he is at this point.

[SweetBro]

He drinks AKP tears

[batmana]

As for his defense being able to improve in the right environment, no offense, but
Us Jazz fans said the same thing for 4 years and then OKC fans also told us the same thing when they traded for him. Unless you figure out a way to make his brain process information a lot quicker, Kanter is who he is at this point.

You are probably very right about him being who he is, this is generally the case with most players at this stage of their career. However, I think it is possible that he can be a part of a good defensive unit (for instance Chicago were a solid defensive unit even with Boozer at the 4).
As for the bolded part, this screams Amare Stoudemire to me - he was simply unfit to play real NBA defense because of his early (formative) years. I have probably watched less Kanter games since you're a Jazz fan but I have hopes he is not that player.

[bondom34]

As for his defense being able to improve in the right environment, no offense, but
Us Jazz fans said the same thing for 4 years and then OKC fans also told us the same thing when they traded for him. Unless you figure out a way to make his brain process information a lot quicker, Kanter is who he is at this point.

It actually has improved.

Still awful, but has improved.

[laika]

My hate for him is more political than his game. His game is pretty underrated when you think he is a better Okafor right now.

Kanter is a much better version of Okafor right now. But that doesn't mean Kanter is much better than average. It means Okafor is on his way to being a bust.

Some people still don't seem to get just how much of a liability it is to have a center that doesn't play defense.

[Lauri_Legend]

I'd take him on my team any day of the week.